Day 25: Blue Planet
Nazca Bloom
The Nazca bloom or Nazca event is the popular name for a still ill understood phenomenon which has been observed multiple times since Recontact. It is characterized by a massive temporary local increase in the population of microorganisms near the ocean surface. The organic mass does not form a uniform carpet, but sprawling shapes and patterns across which play colours and lights in what seems to be a coordinated fashion caused by metabolic activities. The shapes are so extensive that they can only be fully observed from the air and have sometimes even been visible from low orbit, prompting the phenomenon’s name.
Anmerkungen:
Der Sommertag verbirgt sich in der zeitlichen (und räumlichen) Begrenzung, gemeint ist wirklich, dass das Ereignis nur einen Tag (im Sommer) Bestand hat und dann wieder verschwindet. Ich hoffe, das ist irgendwie aus dem Text herauslesbar. Blue Planet ist ja für mich insgesamt ein sommerliches System, aber ich wollte gerade keine “Urlaubsbilder”, sondern eben eher auf die Ökologie der Wasserwelt abstellen.
Notes:
The summer day is hidden in the “temporary local” bit, by which is meant that the event really ever lasts only for a single day in summer before dissipating again. Hopefully, that can actually be understood from the text alone. Speaking more generally, Blue Planet has quite strong summerly connotations for me, but I wanted to avoid having a sort of “holiday snapshot” article for it here, instead putting the focus more on the water world’s ecology.